


As the Dice Roll

by whosaysitcantbereal



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Fablehaven Series - Brandon Mull, Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-01-27 04:53:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12574148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whosaysitcantbereal/pseuds/whosaysitcantbereal
Summary: This is what happens when a small group of people decide to get together and play Pathfinder. As the title suggests, everything that happens is based on actual rolls. Anything out of character was most likely a botch, and the most unlikely miracles were natural 20s.Our tale begins with a young oracle gathering four random wanderers together based upon a doomsday prophecy. They all agree due to their own various reasons and set out on this journey, digging deeper into a mystery which no one had expected.The characters become helplessly entangled in a net betrayal, plot twists, and rolling natural ones. Not all will survive.





	1. Mary Anne

The young girl walked along her chosen path, concentrating on following the unique energy source while wandering the chaotic maze of the bustling marketplace surrounding her. She felt the warm breeze brush through her hair, bringing the smells of the early evening cooking with it. She inhaled deeply; it wasn’t often she got to leave the palace. 

She shook her head.  _ Shouldn’t get sidetracked _ , she thought to herself.

She paused and focused once more on who she needed to find. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on the energies around her, looking for one of the specific traces she needed. It was more difficult than usual to find the trails, but that was probably due to the festival and the people it brought with it. Every person had their own unique energy signature, although some were more obvious than others.

Mary Anne found her thoughts drifting back toward the festival, the Great Andoran Fair. People from all over the country, around the world even, came to Almas just to see it. During the whole month, merchants and craftsmen of all types poured in looking to sell their exotic wares, sample outlandish foods, and offer various services. Musicians from all around came to share their magnificent songs, filling the air with music at every turn. Mary Anne wished she was allowed to participate more within the fairgrounds. She often daydreamed what it was like to be an ordinary girl; to be able to freely wander and explore the fair. She let out a small sigh. Mary Anne knew that would only ever remain a dream though, so she pulled back her thoughts and concentrated once more on finding the energy traces.

_ Wait! There it is _ ! She found one of the energy forces she’d been searching for. 

Mary Anne reached up and tugged on her front guards’ tunic. “I found him again," she said. The guard grunted in acknowledgement.

As she got closer to the energy’s source, she could feel the person’s anger growing rapidly. She rarely felt such a rage in anyone. It was so strong; she was surprised that she didn’t hear any sounds of conflict as she drew closer it’s origin. Slightly more surprising was that she heard the sounds of animals. 

She didn’t know they kept animals in the fair, but it would make sense. As she listened to the animal noises, she came to realize that they were growling and snarling, or at least that’s what it sounded like. Mary Anne didn’t have much experience with animals. The only animal she had ever interacted with before was her small dog back at the palace, but that was before the councilmen took him away.

She was brought back to the present as she heard yelling and the sound of whips cracking through the air. Mary Anne suddenly understood the suppressed rage within the man’s life force.  _ Those people are being mean to the animals. _ Mary Anne wrinkled her nose in disgust.  _ Why would anyone hurt another living creature? _

Mary Anne stopped; she was close enough to the life force now to know it belonged to a very tall man, a half-elf. She could also feel how much he felt for these animals and understood that he had a connection with them that most people would have a hard time understanding. 

She tugged on her guard’s tunic again. “The half-elf.”

She pointed to about where the tall man stood. Two more guards moved on either side of him. She felt his confusion growing as her troupe approached, quickly replacing his past anger. She thought it slightly strange, most people would be showing some signs of nervousness or anxiety when a group of guards approached them, but this man just seemed confused, even a bit annoyed.

She walked up and touched the half-elf’s arm; he felt very muscular. She looked up, “You’ve been chosen to go to the Supreme Elect Building, the council wishes to speak to you.”

“Why?” he asked.

Mary Anne paused; he had a very deep, melodic voice. She wasn’t sure what to say, she had never expected anyone to question why the Supreme Council would want to see them. “Uhh…”

“You’ve been formally summoned by the High Supreme Elect Council of Almas. You will come with us,” said her guard.

Thank goodness for Lieut. Lochlainn; he always knew what to say when she didn’t. 

She sensed the man’s rage begin to grow again, _ Should I warn Lochlainn _ ? She was about to say something when she felt the half-elf’s anger dissipate. She heard him sigh, then grunt in compliance. 

_ How did he get rid of his anger so quickly? I’ve never sensed anyone ever do that before,  _ she thought in confusion.

“Take him to the designated waiting room,” ordered Lieut. Lochlainn.

“Yes, sir," replied two of the other guards. “Please follow us this way, sir.” Mary Anne heard the three of them walk away.

“Mary Anne, how many more are there?” asked Lieut. Lochlainn.

“The prophecy says three more,” she said.

“And are you sure all of them will be found here? In the Field of Concord, on this exact day?” he asked, doubt lacing his voice.

“Why Lieutenant, don’t you have any faith in the prophecy?”

“Not really. It’s far too vague. It’s all riddles, and based on the rantings of a madman.”

_ At least he’s honest. Better than most people I meet in the Council’s Palace. _

“Are you calling me a madman?” she laughed.

Lochlainn’s mouth twitched up in a slight smile. “Of course not, you are most definitely not a man.”

Mary Anne laughed. “Stop being funny; you’re distracting me.”

“I have absolute faith in you and your abilities,” Lieut. Lochlainn said seriously.

“Then why do you doubt me?” asked Mary Anne, stopping and turning to face the lieutenant. 

“It’s not you I doubt,” assured Lieut. Lochlainn. “It’s the many interpretations of prophecies in general. Especially since this newest one hinges on the return of the broken paladin.”

“His reappearance only shows that the prophecy is real, which is why finding these chosen ones are crucial. We are just lucky that I’m able to locate them.”

“Fair enough,” he sighed. “Are you sure the prophecy was referring to today’s eclipse?”

“Don’t be so paranoid. I’m completely sure.”

“We should keep looking for them.”

“You mean  _ I _ should keep looking for them. You can keep following me and look pretty," Mary Anne smiled.

Lieut. Lochlainn chuckled, “Lead the way then, little miss.”

Mary Anne turned her focus inward and reflected it back out once again, searching for the unique energies of the next three. She found one almost immediately, in fact, it was impossible to miss. The energy was so bright and carefree, so different than anyone else’s. They were close. 

Mary Anne started walking and concentrated on the playful energy. She found herself smiling; the energy was very infectious. As she got closer to the position, she began to hear beautiful music. The energy came from where the music was playing, and the serene voice that accompanied it was the best singing Mary Anne had heard in the entirety of her young life. Every note strummed seemed to amplify the positive energy coming from the lady performing. 

Then the song ended, and the positive energy seemed to drain from the area just as fast, leaving a slightly hollow feeling in its place. Mary Anne’s smile slipped down.

“Are you alright?” asked Lieut. Lochlainn, concern in his voice.

Mary Anne shook her head to clear the feelings, “Yes, it’s just been awhile since I heard such pretty music.”  _ Or any music,  _ she thought.

Mary Anne focused on the bard’s energy; that was definitely the life force she was looking for. She could tell that it belonged to a semi-tall humanoid woman, but she couldn’t figure out her race. That wasn’t too strange because she had only ever encountered the more common races: humans, dwarves, elves, half-elves, halflings, and gnomes.

She headed straight to the bard and put her hand out to tug on the player’s tunic. She reached her hand out and felt something furry brush up against her hand.  _ What a strange material for a tunic _ . Mary Anne shrugged and tugged it gently.

_ “Mmrrooowww!” _

Mary Anne recoiled, stunned.  _ There’s no way I pulled on a cat’s tail, _ she thought. She heard snickering coming from the guards around her.

“You know it’s not nice to pull on people’s tails, little girl.”

Mary Anne didn’t know what to say.  _ Since when do people have tails?  _ she wondered, bewildered.

“But it’s okay; you probably didn’t know better. Right? Anyways, did you like the song? I wrote it after watching the most prettiest sunset ever setting on the sparkliest ocean I ever did see. It was all so pretty I just had to share it with the world. And how does someone do that, you might ask?

“Well, I guess I could’ve painted it, but I didn’t have any paper or paint. I’m not exactly an artist either so that wouldn’t have ended well anyways… So then I thought, how could I share this awe-inspiring moment? And then it came to me! I’d sing about it. So I decided to write a song, and then I played it, and people liked it. Or at least they acted like they did. You never really know about people until you do. Hey, you’re awfully quiet. You okay little girl?”

Mary Anne realized she was falling into an annoying pattern of not knowing what to say. This lady sure had a lot to say, and it was all a bit too much for her to process all at once. 

She heard Lieut. Lochlainn clear his throat. “Your presence has been requested to formally speak with the High Supreme Elect Council of Almas immediately. Two of my men will show you the way.”

“Shhh! Wait your turn, I was talking to the little girl,” said the woman.

Mary Anne felt the strange woman squat down in front of her.

“Little girl, do you like magic? Because I know a magic trick you might like.” 

“I like magic,” replied Mary Anne, smiling slightly at memories of happier times as she wondered what this person was doing. Mary Anne stood there waiting for something to happen and then waited some more. Again, she heard some of the guards quietly laughing.

“You know, most kids laugh when I do that, or at least have some sort of reaction.”

“Umm, well, you see… I…” Mary Anne stammered while she waved a hand in front of her own eyes.

“You have really neat eyes,” interrupted the woman. “They sure are blue and so glassy, it’s actually kind of creepy, and… oh… You can’t see.”

Mary Anne nodded.

“That explains why you acted like some creepy little undead girl while I showed you my trick. I made a bunch of pretty glowy butterflies dance around your head by the way, but then again I guess since you’re blind, you don’t know what butterflies look like… or lights. Hey! Will you stop jabbing me with your pole! That’s not a very nice thing to do.”

“Miss, will you please come with us?” demanded Lieut. Lochlainn.

“Sure! Why didn’t you ask in the first place? Also, my name isn’t Miss; call me Le Purria. Oh, I like your hats. Did you know they have strings coming off the top? I’m not under arrest, am I?” asked Le Purria.

“No miss, you are not being arrested, just escorted,” replied Lieut. Lochlainn.

“Oh good, cause that would be bad, and I haven’t done anything bad lately. Or at least I don’t think I have… and I told you my name is Le Purria. Have you heard of--” Le Purria’s voice trailed off as she was led away by two more guards.

“I’m going to need a lot of butterbur later,” complained Lieut. Lochlainn.

“Headache?” asked Mary Anne.

“Oh yeah,” said Lochlainn. “Hopefully the next two won’t be so chatty.”

Mary Anne giggled.

“Hey, Lochlainn, why did that woman have a fluffy tail?” Mary Anne asked. “I’ve never heard of a race that has a fluffy tail.”

“She was catfolk. It’s a race that’s humanoid but has physical attributes of cats. They have fur all over their bodies, catlike faces, ears, and tails. Strange sort of people if you ask me.”

“They sound funny," Mary Anne slowly lowered her head, dropping her voice with it. “I wish I could see what they look like.” She felt two fingers gently come under her chin pushing her head back up. 

“Maybe one day, you will,” said the lieutenant. 

“You’re right,” said Mary Anne, regaining her confidence.

She looked around, reaching once more for one of the remaining energy trails. These two energies were more subtle than the previous two, seeming to blend seamlessly with the crowd. She was going to have to concentrate harder to find them.

Mary Anne signaled to her guards that she was about to go into a deeper trance. She let go of all the outside distractions and drew upon the powers within her, letting it guide her to the souls as only the power could. 

They were both really close, closer than she had expected. Mary Anne pinpointed one of the trails and led her guards over to it. Once she grew near enough to the source, she began to pick out the details about him. He was definitely human and seemed to exude a certain confidence. 

“What can I do for you gentlemen?” he asked as her group approached.

Mary Anne pushed by Lieut. Lochlainn before anyone could answer. She wanted to convince at least one of these future heroes to meet with the council without needing to get help from her guard.

“You have been summoned to a meeting with the High Supreme Elect Council of Almas as soon as possible,” she said as confidently as she could.

“Well, isn’t that adorable. I haven’t exactly got anything better to do, so why not? I’ll meet with your ‘great’ council,” he replied.

_ Finally, someone’s listening to me _ , she thought.

“This way, sir,” said the guard to her right.

“It’s Captain to you,” retorted the man as he was escorted to the palace.

Mary Anne did a quick victory cheer in her head and went back to locating the remaining person. They were close enough that she didn’t have to go into another trance, but she definitely had to put in a lot of concentration to find them. Whoever they were, they were quick and liked to move around through the crowds. She did her best to follow the energy, but it seemed to be avoiding her. The harder she tried to get close to it, the more it slipped away. _ Why would anyone want to avoid a little girl?  _ she wondered. 

After several minutes, it dawned on her. Whoever she was trying to find didn’t like the guards who surrounded her. If she wanted to get within speaking distance with them, she was going to have ditch her guards. _ Lieut. Lochlainn is not going to like this. _

“Lieut. Lochlainn?” she asked in her cutest voice.

“Yes?” he inquired. 

Mary Anne knew it wasn’t likely that she could persuade the Lieutenant but she might as well try. “Well, you see, this last person doesn’t seem to like you or the other guards very much,” she explained. “So I thought that maybe I should go on ahead while you follow at a safe distance.”

“Absolutely not. Anyone who avoids guards is up to trouble, and I will not allow you to be at risk.”

“But I…”

“The answer is no, Mary Anne. You are forbidden walk the streets unaccompanied, and that is final.”

Mary Anne huffed in frustration.  _ I tried doing this the right way, but that obviously isn’t going to work. Guess I have to try the other way now. _ She focused once more on the energy and waited for an opportune time. It was close. _ This is the best opening I’m going to get.  _

She turned in the opposite direction pointing at the darkest energy she could find. “That one,” she said as loudly as she could muster. 

“Hey, you! Put that back; we need to talk to you immediately!” yelled Lieut. Lochlainn. “Crap, she’s running”

Mary Anne felt Lieut. Lochlainn’s strong hands grab her shoulders, “Stay here and don’t move, I’m leaving Sergeant Balhorn to watch you.”

Mary Anne nodded.  _ That sure was lucky,  _ she thought,  _ and Sergeant Balhorn is the easiest to sneak away from. I’ve done it several times before, back in the palace, and she didn’t even notice. _

“Syllamin! Chatain! Take the back alley on the right, the rest of you with me! Don’t let her get away!” shouted the lieutenant. She heard them all run off to give chase, as well as the surprised gasps and cries of the crowd. Mary Anne felt bad about lying to Lochlainn, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. She started walking in the opposite direction, toward the energy source, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.  _ Dangit! I forgot about Balhorn. _

“And where do you think you’re going?” asked Sergeant Balhorn. The energy had started moving through a group of onlookers. 

“I, umm…” she hesitated.  _ I need to think of something and quick. _ One thing came to her; it wasn’t the best lie, but in the heat of the moment it was all she had. “I feel the twisted energy. It-- I mean, she went down a different alley. You have to go and catch her,” she urged.

“Flaming hell! Which alley?” Balhorn demanded.

_ She’s actually falling for it!  _ Mary Anne thought excitedly. “Uh, that one!” she exclaimed. She pointed vigorously in a random direction hoping that an alley was there.

“Damn it! They’ll never catch her with her going that way," Balhorn grabbed Mary Anne’s hand and put it on a nearby tent pole. “Grab this and don’t let go. I’ll be right back,” Balhorn promised. 

Mary Anne stood and waited a few seconds to make sure the sergeant had actually left.  _ I hope she doesn’t get in too much trouble for this, _ she thought feeling slightly guilty. 

She quickly scanned the crowd again for the remaining life force. It was close enough that she could tell it was a man, and though her first scan showed that he was a human, going deeper, she found that something was off. She wasn’t sure what they were, but it didn’t really matter anyway. All that was important to her was that she found the right people. She also figured he was just a race she hadn’t met yet. 

She stumbled her way through the crowd toward him, just barely managing to avoid running into people. Or at least most people. She knew she was getting really close to him, but didn’t realize how close until she rammed face first into his side. His energy was a lot more muted than she had originally thought. 

“Whoa, hey! Excuse you, now was that a knife or were you just happy to see me?” he said as he turned, immediately seemed to regret it, based on the change in his energy.

“Sorry sir, but I need to speak to you,” she replied, completely ignoring his comment.

Mary Anne felt him crouch a little closer to her, and his energy changed from an annoyed feeling to a more sympathetic aura. 

“Guess you really can’t watch where you’re going,” he said, slightly concerned. “What did you need to tell me?”

Mary Anne straightened herself and said as commandingly as she could, “I need you to come with me to the Palace of the People’s Council. Your presence has been requested for a meeting with the High Supreme Elect Council of Almas.” 

The man gave a small chuckle as he stood up. “ _ You  _ want  _ me _ to go to meet with city’s council? Why on Golarion would I do that?”

_ Why does no one ever take me seriously?  _ she asked silently.

“Because the High Supreme Elect Council asked for you. It’s really important,” she explained.

“Oh really? I’m that important? Listen, kid, if it’s so important, why did they send a little blind girl to get me? Why not a guard, or better yet a councilman?” he questioned. “No hard feelings, but I really am a busy man and have a lot of business deals I must attend to. I have to get going.”

“Wait!” she insisted. An idea occurred to her. “Could you at least help me back to the Palace of the People’s Council. I’m a little lost.”

“You seemed to have no trouble finding me,” he retorted.

“I’m good at finding people, not places,” she explained. It was mostly the truth.

“Uh-huh…” he said skeptically. 

In a loud voice, she said, “So you’re going to make your poor, blind daughter walk home all by herself on one of the busiest days of the year?”

“Wait, what?” he said confusedly. “Kid, I’m not your…”

“For shame on you sir!” came an enraged shriek. From the voice it sounded like an older woman. “How could you do such a terrible and irresponsible thing to your own flesh and blood? Why I never!” Mary Anne forced tears to well up in her eyes as a volley of similar cries came up from the crowd.  _ Let’s see him try to hide now,  _ she thought smugly.

“Fine! I’ll take you back home,  _ dear _ ,” he said, the last word coming out forced. He grabbed Mary Anne’s arm firmly and started pulling her in the direction of the palace. 

“Thank you,” she said. The man let out an annoyed sigh.  _ I hope Lochlainn and Balhorn aren’t going to be in too much trouble. Lochlainn is going to be so worried,  _ she thought. She felt a strange mix of emotions chaotically swirling within her. On the one hand, she felt super guilty about all the lies she had been telling. She had never lied so much in her life or risked getting so many people in trouble. On the other hand, she had also never been so exhilarated and proud of herself. She managed to get two of the four people to go to the palace all by herself. 

She was still trying to sort through all of her emotions when the man spoke. “Okay, we’re here. You can find your own way now.”

“But we aren’t inside yet,” she stated. 

“I’m sure you can make it from here. I’ll even help you start; it’s in this,” he turned her toward the steps, “direction. Now off you go.” He gave her a gentle push.

He started to walk away. “But I need your help going up the stairs,” she pleaded. She just needed to get him near the door guards.

“It’s just a few steps; you’ll be fine,” he assured her.

_ This is going to hurt,  _ she thought as she prepared herself.

Mary Anne took two steps up, pretended to trip, and fell down. “Owww!” she cried.

“Have you no remorse for the poor girl?” came the cry of a slightly familiar voice. “How could you leave your own blind daughter to climb five flights of stairs all on her own? Where is your honor, man? You are a disgrace to all your race!”

“What the heck lady? Where did you--? How did you--? Have you actually been following me?” demanded the man.

“That is none of your business, young man. Now you better take your poor daughter up those steps, or I’ll bring the guards down on you for mistreatment of a child,” she said.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now; I’m taking her. But if I see you again, I will report you for stalking.”

Mary Anne felt herself being picked up by the man. “Crazy old hag,” he muttered under his breath. “This crap better be over when I drop you off.”

It was a bit of an awkward trip as he silently carried Mary Anne up the many stairs.  _ I really have to give this guy credit. He’s not super tall but he is strong enough to carry me all the way up here.  _

By the time they got to the top, he was breathing heavily and sweating a bit. He put her down as gently as he could and turned her toward the doors. “You know, I’m tempted to just let you walk off the ledge for all the trouble you’ve put me through,” he said.

“Honestly, mister, I would too,” she said guiltily. She took a steadying breath knowing what she had to do next, which made her feel even worse. “Guards! He’s one of them!” she yelled as loud as she could.

She felt many negative emotions flash through the man’s energy, but above all, she felt confusion and annoyance. 

“Son of a--” he said exasperatedly.

A nearby guard cut him off. “Sir, you are to come with us. Immediately.” 

“Fine, fine. I’ll come with you, no need to be pushy,” said the man. As he was escorted into the building another guard came up to Mary Anne.

“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” asked Mary Anne already knowing the answer.

“Oh yeah,” replied the guard.


	2. Le Purria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm apparently really bad at remembering to update, so here are the next two chapters. Sorry.

“So how long do you guys actually expect me to wait here because I have a lot of other, better places to be.”

Le Purria looked around the white halls at the numerous paintings hanging as the guards escorted her through Palace of the People’s Council.  _ This is a great palace _ , Le Purria thought to herself. There were big open corridors, shiny gold trim, lots of smallish valuable objects lying about, and everything was super clean, which served to make it all extra sparkly. Her tail twitched excitedly despite herself.

“Hellooooo? Aren’t you gonna answer me?” she asked while her tail flicked back and forth.

The guards slowed to a stop in front of a large single door on their left. “In here, miss,” motioned one of the guards.

“Ugh, I told you I’m not Miss, I’m Le Purria. You haven’t answered my questions yet either. I’m sure you’re a nice person and all, but you sure are being rude right now. You should learn some-- Hey! It’s Tyr!” 

The guard had pushed the door open to show a person was already waiting inside the small room. Le Purria propelled herself into the tall, incredibly striking half-elf. She wrapped her arms around him in excitement as he stood there unmoving. “You’re supposed to hug back,” she whispered loudly. 

“Hi, Le Purria,” Tyr groaned.

“Eh, good enough." She let go and turned around as the door was slammed shut. “I’m trying to think of you as a nice person, but you’re making it really hard!” Le Purria shouted through the door. Her ears twitched as she picked up the sounds of the lock clicking into place. “Some people. You know what I mean, Tyr?” she asked. 

“Agreed.” Tyr nodded. She examined the room. It was small and had a small table against one wall. Two little metal chairs were stacked nearby.  _ This is a letdown after seeing all that fancy stuff out there. _

She jumped onto the grey metal table and laid down, resting her head in her hand.

“So how have you been? I haven’t seen you in forever, not since that thing in the forest. That was great….” she paused for a few seconds while she reminisced to herself. She took a deep breath as she came back to the present. “What have you been up to lately? Was it fun? Why the heck are you here in Almas, especially the palace? That is really weird for you Tyr since you hate people and everything.

“Did the guards and that weird little girl take you? Well, I guess they did, it’s the only thing that makes any sense cause you don’t like people or walls. It’s great to see you again; we should really do this more often minus the guards. What do you think?”

“Sure,” responded Tyr.

“Squeee! Wait till you hear about what I did. Bet you can’t guess?” excitedly said Le Purria, sitting up in excitement.

“You wrote songs,” stated Tyr.

“Oh my gosh. How did you know?” gasped Le Purria. 

Before she could say any more, Le Purria heard a quiet click from the door and spun around as another person entered the room. Her tail arched into a question mark as she recognized the handsome hook-handed pirate.

She had a sudden flashback to when she was much younger, in a cell on his ship. She was only twelve when she had been inappropriately convicted of a crime she hadn’t committed. She had been sent away to the worst prison known to her village. This man had been hired to take her and a few others across the sea to the prison. The Captain had come to inspect the prisoners’ midway through the voyage, and when he saw her, he stopped in front of her cell. He had started asking questions about why she was there, and after they had talked for a while, he left.

This had made her sad at the time, but then he came back with some really big clothes that were much warmer than her ragged, hole infested ones. He let her out of the small cell, and she followed him up onto the deck. For the next few days, she was free to walk around as she pleased, talk to people, and eat as much as she wanted. When they got into port, he helped smuggle her off the ship. Le Purria suddenly wished that she could remember his name.

He looked older now, but he was definitely the same guy. He sauntered into the room, grinning at Le Purria and Tyr. The Captain casually looked back as the door shut behind him. “I assume the council also called you both,” he said.

“Hi, Mr. Captain! I’m Le Purria, do you remember me?” asked Le Purria as she went to stand in front of the newcomer. 

He stood there for a moment as he studied her face like he was trying to remember.

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t seem to remember your name? You see, I tend to meet quite a few people in my travels,” he said as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck with his hook. 

“Oh. I understand,” Le Purria said slightly disappointed.  The Captain looked over her shoulder at Tyr.

“Tyr!” he exclaimed. He walked around Le Purria to greet his old acquaintance with an outstretched hand. Tyr rigidly shook it. “James,” he acknowledged.

“It’s Captain Clarke,” stated James.

Tyr grunted in unimpressed acknowledgement.

Le Purria was a little upset that the Captain couldn’t remember her, but she didn’t hold his bad memory against him, and she also had grown up a lot since then, too. 

“We’ve been waiting in here for forever,” she complained as her tail started twitching impatiently. “When are they going to see us? It’s not nice to keep guests waiting in a small, semi-claustrophobic room, especially ‘honored’ guests. Not that it isn’t nice to see you both again, but I really don’t like waiting, and I’m getting kinda bored.”

Tyr grunted in agreement.

Clarke walked over and casually sat in one of the chairs. She saw the light glitter off his hook, and it immediately grabbed her full attention. Her eyes grew big and her tail started swishing playfully back and forth. He looked up at her, noticing the way she was looking at his hook and chuckled a bit. “Where did you get that?” she asked innocently, pupils still wide.

“It’s a long, boring story,” he replied. “I’m sure you wouldn’t want to hear it. I would, however, love to hear how it is you know me? I haven’t met many catfolk, so maybe you can jog my memory?”

“Oh!” Le Purria’s ears perked up happily at the prospect of correcting this man’s travesty of a memory. She flicked her tail back and forth a couple of times as she thought of how to tell him. “Okay, well I was on your ship with a bunch of other people, who I think did some bad stuff, and you were taking us all to big prison place. I was barely older than a kittenfolk at the time, and you let me out.”

“I let you out?” he inquired skeptically. 

“Yup. I don’t know why, but I’m quite glad you did. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to make music. Well, I guess I could have, but it would have been a lot of gloomy, depressing stuff. So do you remember me now?”

“I think I vaguely remember a smallish cat girl running around, now that you mention it.”

“Oh, good,” she said happily. “But I’m bored now, so I’m going to go and play my lyre now.”

“Okay,” he said, seeming slightly confused at the sudden turn of conversation.

Le Purria went back to the table, pulled out her small lyre, and played through several of her favorite songs. She then moved to other songs and had almost played through all of the ones she knew when, finally, she heard the sounds of many footsteps from behind the door.

She stared at the door until it opened and another person came through. A shorter, bearded redhaired man was shoved inside. He was definitely cute by human standards, but he had strange amber eyes and a funny smell about him that she couldn’t quite place. He also smelled really sweaty, though, so she didn’t feel like investigating his scents any closer.

The guards had all but tossed the poor guy into the room. Clarke quickly stood up and walked over to the door, just in time to have it slammed in his face. The lock clicked into place once more, leaving them all stuck in the small room together.

“If they put any more people in these four walls, I will break down that door,” angrily muttered Tyr as he began to pace. 

“Kuramoto?” asked the Captain as looked at the new person. 

“James!” the redhead exclaimed as he turned to face the Captain.

Le Purria saw both their faces drop as an unsaid recognition and panic passed between them. 

_ James fits him better than Clarke. _

“Oh shit,” quietly said Kuramoto. Le Purria watched on as they both pulled what looked like lock picks out and took turns trying in a futile effort to unlock the door.  _ Have I done anything bad lately? _ she asked herself. She thought for a moment.  _ I haven’t done anything as far as I know. Huh, oh well.  _ She went back to contently play her lyre, glad that she wasn’t in their shoes.

Her ears twitched in irritation as James and Kuramoto whispered to each other.  _ Why won’t they stop whispering? I am trying to write a masterpiece darn it! How inconsiderate! _

She put her lyre up and was about to give them a piece of her mind when the door opened unexpectedly. She had been so concentrated on their whispers that she hadn’t heard the guards’ footsteps approaching. 

Tyr stopped pacing and turned toward the two men entering the room. “There had better not be any more people coming through that opening,” Tyr spat.

The first guard eyed him a bit before looking at the rest of the group. “The High Supreme Elect Council of Almas is ready to see all of you now.”

“Oh, thank goodness! I’ve been waiting forever, and you have no idea what it’s like being stuck in here,” exploded Le Purria. She shoved her way past James, Kuramoto, and the guards as she made her way quickly through the door. She started bounding down the corridor when someone gruffly cleared their throat behind her. She turned around, “Wow! It sounds like someone needs some leaves of a horehound.”

The guard looked at her with a slightly puzzled look on his face. “The meeting room is this way, miss,” he said as he pointed down at the fancy double doors directly across from them. 

“Thank you,” she said as she skipped over to the big doors. She gave up trying to convince all of the guards to stop calling her ‘miss.’ Before the guards could go in and announce the group’s presence, Le Purria thrust the great doors open and strode into the obscenely large rotunda. She confidently strutted straight to the Council’s long table, and in one graceful motion, she leapt onto the table into a lying position. 

“So you wanted to see me?” she asked the lady nearest to her. The noble lady gasped and seemed to come close to fainting. Half the council looked at Le Purria incredulously as the other half appeared to find her silly antics quite amusing.

“Lady, you okay?” Le Purria asked the councilwoman, genuinely concerned.

The other three had entered the room by this point.

“I demand you get off the table this instant,” the councilwoman stuttered insistently. 

“Why? I’m comfy.”

“It’s undignified and unbecoming,” said the elderly man next to her who was doing all he could not get hit by Le Purria’s swishing tail.

“Well, it’s a good thing I don’t care about either of those,” she laughed. Le Purria heard quiet giggling coming from behind her. She leaned back until her head was hanging off the table and smiled as she saw the weird little girl from before. “Hey, it’s you. The cute, creepy little girl from before.”

Again, there were insulted gasps from various council members, but the girl just laughed harder. Suddenly a deep penetrating voice rang out across the room, echoing against the walls, “Enough!” 

Le Purria looked instantly at the owner of the voice with her ears plastered flat against the top of her skull. It was a middle-aged man with dark hair and darker eyes standing at a podium to the right of the table. He had very sharp features with a strong jawline; everything about him radiated strength and authority.  _ Here we go, _ thought Le Purria as she rolled her eyes. 

“I bet you are all wondering why we called upon you,” he stated as he looked at each of them in turn.  _ He has scary eyes,  _ Le Purria thought as he met her gaze. 

“As you all have undoubtedly heard, the apprentice of one of our city’s paladins was taken over a year ago. To clear up any rumors or false statements, I will tell you all what we know concerning what happened to him.” 

Le Purria’s ears perked up in anticipation. The real story hadn’t been let out to the public yet, so that means no other bards have had the opportunity to sing about it. Sure there were those that had written songs on it, but they were all made up. This was the real thing. She smelled a story, maybe even an epic, and she was going to be the first to sing it.

The Grand Councilman continued, “The foolish boy decided to get involved in circumstances that he had been warned not to meddle in, and because of this it led to the ultimate tragedy that he faced. Not disclosing what circumstances led to this, he was taken into a portal that led to what the sorcerers’ believed to be a realm of demons. To which realm, we have had no way of knowing, until now. 

“One moon cycle ago he emerged from the hellscape in which he had been trapped. It was clear that the poor lad had been tortured, not only in body but in mind and spirit as well. When our healers finally managed to bring him to, he wouldn’t speak or react to anything. He had created a safe haven within his mind to escape his torment, but it seems he had gone far too deep within himself. We needed information, however, so we sent our Oracle to him, to seek and uncover what he was so desperately trying to hide.”

“You sure that was a good idea?” Kuramoto chimed in. “If he was trying so hard to hide something, don’t you think it was for a reason?”

Le Purria nodded.  _ That makes sense.  _

“The knowledge that was locked in his head is dangerous. We needed to know so we could protect our people,” replied the Grand Councilman.

Le Purria nodded.  _ That makes sense, too.  _ Kuramoto opened his mouth once more, but Captain Clarke beat him to it, “Now we could sit around arguing this point, but clearly they already went through the lad’s head. So how about we just get a move on with the story, eh?”

Kuramoto rolled his eyes but motioned for the story to continue.

“As I was saying,” said the Grand Councilman, his stare pointedly fixated on Kuramoto before moving on. “We brought in our Oracle to take a look into his thoughts.” He made a quick gesture with hand, signaling a guard standing near the young girl. She took a few careful steps forward.

“Oh, great! You used a kid to look into a disturbed man’s head that’s probably filled with memories of torture and demons,” said Kuramoto exasperatedly. 

“They what?!” demanded Tyr. “No child should suffer through such wickedness!” The rage filling him was almost visible. Despite herself, Le Purria felt her ears flatten slightly.

The girl ran up to the big barbarian and quietly assured him that she was all right. As soon as her hand touched his arm, he seemed to calm down extraordinarily fast. Le Purria heard James whisper something to Kuramoto and saw him nodded in agreement.

When the lean half-elf had sufficiently calmed, Mary Anne nervously walked back to the Grand Councilman’s podium. Arms outstretched, she walked until she touched it, then turned back to face the group.

“So why exactly have we all been summoned?” asked James.

“As our Oracle delved into the madman’s mind, she was shown certain things. These things opened her mind in such a way that she became a vessel that was used to give us a prophecy; a prophecy that depicts the end of the world as we know it unless the chosen four manage to save us all from such a fate. Which is what brings you four here.”

_ This is great material, and how perfect would it be if I were actually chosen as a hero. That is literally the closest one can get to the truest and best material,  _ she thought to herself gleefully.

“You honestly expect us four to be heroes? No offense, but I don’t see any of these guys as hero types, and I definitely know I’m no.” said Kuramoto.

A small councilwoman stood up, “But you’d be saving the world! The peoples of all the lands would be in your debt.”

Several more voices chimed in, more or less saying the same thing. James, Kuramoto, and Tyr all shrugged. Cries of outrage and disbelief rang out from the council members. The Grand Councilman rolled his eyes and sharply put up his hand to silence them. He let the final echoes die down before he spoke.

“If being heroes doesn’t interest any of you, then how about untold riches?” he asked in a dragged out voice.

James and Kuramoto both perked up with smiles tugging at the corners of their lips. “I’m good with riches,” James said. He turned to Kuramoto. “You?”

“Yeah, and I’ve got nothing better to do anyway, so might as well.”

The Grand Councilman looked at Tyr and Le Purria in turn, “What about you two?” he asked.

“Well, I couldn’t care less about riches, unless they’re shiny riches, but I was going to go along anyway because this will all make a great ballad,” responded Le Purria.

“And you, half-elf?” he said to Tyr.

“I don’t want your riches or fame,” stated Tyr.

“Then what is it you want?” asked the Ground Councilman, obviously ready to be done with this group.

“The animals.”

“The animals?”

“Yes. The animals that have been unjustly locked up and tortured for the amusement of your peasants in the streets,” Tyr said passionately, clearly upset that the Council was taking so long to understand.

“Ahh,” said the Ground Councilman finally understanding what Tyr was referring to. “I’m afraid that the council doesn’t have much control over the treatment of animals that do not belong to the city. If you truly want someone who could do more about it, I will send you to them, and I’m sure they will gladly take you through all of the appropriate channels.”

“Then I don’t go,” stated Tyr. Le Purria felt herself getting a little dizzy, as her head kept moving back and forth between the speakers.

“Fine, I’ll move to get the process in motion so that by the time you all return, you-.”

“NO! I will not leave on your quest until after the animals have been freed or become treated fairly,” demanded Tyr.

Even Le Purria could tell that the Grand Councilman was becoming extremely agitated with the conversation. She wanted to help and make everyone happier but wasn’t quite sure how. She watched as the Grand Councilman brought a hand up and rubbed his temples for a few moments. “If you give me your word that you will go, then I will give you mine that I will do everything within my power to nullify the circus animal situation. Do we have a deal?”

Tyr stood and thought for a moment before answering, “Deal.”

Le Purria opened her mouth to say something when she got cut off suddenly. “Before anyone else says anything, we will need your names. Then we will have the Oracle relay the prophecy.”

“I’m the great bard Le Purria!” she said emphatically. “And you shouldn’t interrupt people who are about to talk.”

“Tyr,” the half-elf said shortly.

The councilman raised an eyebrow as he looked at the two men who had yet to name themselves.

“Captain James Clarke, at your service,” the sailor said ironically, giving a full, sweeping bow.

Kuramoto sighed as the entire council stared at him.

“Kuramoto,” he said finally.

The head councilman waited for the names to be recorded before he gestured to the waiting child. Mary Anne stepped forward once more and looked in the direction of each of the party members, and then she spoke.

 

Artokus seeks the world to end

With four keys, cause land to rend.

Before all is said and done,

We must start where all has begun.

 

On a day of celebration,

A frightening sight will have gripped the nation.

A soul wrapped in darkening light,

His mind consumed with demonic blight.

 

The day the sun hides from all,

The blind will seek four heroes tall.

Should the chosen ones fail or dim,

Then the outcomes shall indeed be grim.

 

Be warned; one must take a closer peek,

For one or more may be deemed as weak.

They will be tempted as never before, 

If they conquer, they shall soar.

 

Now which heroes will be called?

That is a mystery to us all.

To overcome the challenges shown,

These attributes will be known.

 

Strength and rage that have been brewed,

A life filled with solitude.

Next, a merry soul filled with carefree sounds,

A lifelong companion could be found.

 

One is filled with cunning and wit,

Lots of trouble if you consider his kit.

The last is a mystery,

Especially to those that share history. 

 

The last words echoed around the large room until nothing remained but the quiet scratching of Le Purria’s quill on parchment. She felt an odd sensation come across her, so she looked up to see that everyone in the room was staring at her. She slowly looked down at her quill as it dawned on her that maybe her writing wasn’t as quiet as she thought. She paused a moment more before she shrugged.  _ Ehh, too late now,  _ she thought and went back to writing down the rest of the prophecy before she forgot.

As she finished writing down the prophecy, the Grand Councilman stood and started talking again. “From what our greatest scholars could surmise, you four have been chosen, and the soul mentioned is that of the paladin’s. We have reason to believe that this ‘Artokus’ is none other than the great Artokus of Thuvia. Unfortunately, we have been unable to locate his whereabouts other than that. They are quite secretive about him when it comes to outsiders.”

James spoke up, “Are you seriously expecting us to search an entire country. For one man who doesn’t even appear to want to be found, and who may or may not even be the right Artokus?”

“I feel like that’s a bit of a stretch,” says Kuramoto while observing the other chosen.

“We would like to give you more information, but unfortunately, that’s all we know,” replied the Grand Councilman. “We can, however, secure a ship that would take the four of you to Thuvia along with various supplies for the journey.”

James walked forward, “Ah, actually I already have a ship, but I’d be more than glad to take the supplies you so greatly offered for all on my ship. I’ll need enough for twenty-one adults for the ten-day journey.”

Kuramoto adds, “and a horse.”

“And a horse,” repeated James without hesitation.

Le Purria started bouncing excitedly, “Oh, and my bird.” 

“And a bird,” he repeated and then turned to Le Purria. “Bird?” asked James, giving her a questioning look. 

“Yup! Sir Tweety needs a lot of food.”

“Food for the bird then," said James with a half smile.

Tyr strode up to the front of the room, “I will not go anywhere until those animals are released!”

“Your council better hurry then. Ship sets sail in four days,” said James as he walked out. He stopped right at the door, “You can send the sutler out to meet me by the ship, Alice’s Last Wish. If I’m not already there, tell him to ask for Captain Clarke.” With the last word said, he was out the door.

_ What’s a sutler?  _ she asked herself.

Le Purria scanned the room and realized that Kuramoto was also gone.  _ When did he leave?  _ she pondered.  _ Well, I don’t want to be the last one out. _ She propelled herself off the table and walked out quickly before Tyr could have a chance to leave before her, giving the Oracle a quick pat on the head on her way out. 


	3. Tyr

After Tyr had done everything he knew to make sure the council would keep their word, he left and headed straight for the circus grounds. Even if he had to wait the entire four days, he was going to make sure those mistreated animals were going to be taken care of; and things were going to change, whether the council intervened or not.

Tyr was contemplating just how exactly he could go about “changing” the animal keepers way of thinking when he found himself in the animal captivity area. It always frustrated him to no end when he saw crowds of ugly people gathered around, gawking and pointing at these animals like they were objects to mock. It was disgusting.

_How could these people realize the intolerability of slavery but not see they were doing the same to these once beautiful and proud creatures? What difference is there between whipping a wolf instead of a halfling, except when one has a voice, and the other doesn’t?_

Tyr was awoken from his spiraling thoughts as he saw a guard approach the head animal handler. Tyr saw them exchange words and edged closer so he could hear what they were saying. As he got close enough to eavesdrop, the conversation seemed to come to a close, and the guard walked away while the handler nodded in acknowledgement to whatever the guard had said. Tyr stopped in his tracks in shock.

 _That’s it?_ he thought indignantly. _That was the best the council could do to end this?_

His body began to tense and vibrate as a blinding rage built inside of him, radiating out with a frightening intensity. The force of his ire became so severe that nearby people found themselves swerving to avoid him. Nearby animals jumped up and suddenly started pacing around their small cells as they sensed Tyr’s infectious anxiety.

“Hey! Shut up you!” yelled the handler hitting a cage loudly. He went to grab his whip but suddenly found himself forcibly put up against the nearest enclosure.

Tyr had a single hand wrapped around the man’s throat. The wire from the cage cut into the man’s bare back as he was forced upward. The fat handler was lifted off his feet by a foot and a half. He sputtered in pain and fought for air as the barbarian held him there. The surrounding crowd gasped and cried out various exclamations, all pointing at Tyr’s behavior.

“Don’t any of you have anything better to do than point and look stupidly at whatever thing is around you! Are you really all so senseless? Can’t you see what this man is doing?! Look around and wake up!” screamed Tyr.

Guards came running from seemingly nowhere. The man in Tyr’s iron-like grasp was turning blue in the face while red blood oozed down his back in small rivets. The guards started to enclose upon Tyr with swords drawn; the head guard stepped out in front of the rest, “Sir! Put the man down and back away slowly.”

Tyr twitched his head towards the talker, indicating he had heard him. He lightened the pressure on the handler’s throat slightly, allowing the handler to breathe a little.

Some colour returned to the man’s face, if only faintly. He even started to lower him back to the ground when he saw a once beautiful tiger in the cage limp by, covered in scars, aged and fresh alike.

Tyr’s began to lose control, and he lifted the man even higher than before. The guards enclosed with weapons drawn, making escape impossible when a familiar voice sang out.

“Wait! You guys don’t wanna attack him. Give me a minute to talk to him,” said Le Purria while squeezing out from under a very confused guard’s legs. “Thank you.”

She quickly crawled under the guard’s legs and leapt up to Tyr, “Pssst, Tyr,” she whispered. “Put the mean man down and let’s talk about this, huh?”

Tyr stared fixedly at the man in his hand, watching him struggle for air and consciousness. “He has earned this,” stated Tyr.

“I believe you Tyr, but don’t you think he should live long enough to pay for everything he did?” asked Le Purria.

Tyr nods in agreement.

“Okay, so why don’t you tell him exactly what he did wrong and give him to the nice guard,” she offered.

Tyr grunted and pulled the man close to his face, “If you lay another hand on any animal, and I will know when you do. You will not survive our next meeting,” he growled.

Tyr dropped the animal handler and watched as he fell to all fours, gasping for air. A guardsman ran up and dragged him out of Tyr’s reach. Tyr just stood there, staring at the tiger who stared back. A sort of understanding passed between them.

“Okay! So that guy’s alive, and no one has otherwise been hurt. So how about we call this a day and go our respective ways, respectively,” said Le Purria cheerfully.

The head guardsman stepped closer, “We still have to take him in,” he said, gesturing at Tyr.  

“Oh, I’m sure you don’t have to,” she replied.

“Please move along, ma’am. It’s for your safety.” He waved for a guard to get her out of the way. She twirled effortlessly out of his reach and firmly placed herself between Tyr and the head guard.

“What if I looked after him? He listens to me, and I’m pretty sure none of you guys want to get any new bruises today. So why don’t we all leave our separate ways and that way you guys don’t have to do as much paperwork.”

The head guard looked at each of his men and the imposing, now-placid barbarian, trying to gauge the situation. He did a slight hesitant nod, “Alright.”

He sheathed his sword and motioned for his colleagues to do the same. “You and your friend can go, but I don’t want to catch either of you in this area for the remainder of the Fair.”

“Yes Sir!” exclaimed Le Purria happily. “Come on Tyr,” she said as she grabbed his hand. Tyr allowed himself to be led away. _I’m not in the mood to fight anyways._

His mind was still preoccupied with the animal situation, and he hadn’t been keeping track of where Le Purria was leading him until they were in front of an inn, on the opposite side of the fairgrounds. He looked up to see the name, The Succulent Eel. He shrugged indifferently and was led inside.

As they walked in, Le Purria let go of Tyr’s hand and danced over to the barkeeper. Tyr looked around disinterestedly, suddenly bored.

He was never comfortable in social settings, often preferring to be alone. He wandered over to a less crowded area of the bar and ordered himself an ale. Tyr began to study the environment when he noticed that one of the men from before was across the room; it was the one with the red hair and strange eyes.

As Tyr studied his body language, the redhead seemed to be listening into someone else’s conversation. _What a nosy guy,_ Tyr snorted to himself, taking another sip of ale. _Then again, I guess he could be just as bored as I am._

He perked up as he heard some music begin to play. He searched for its source and saw Le Purria playing her lyre, singing away. Her tune immediately brought his spirits up, and he began to enjoy himself a bit more while he listened to her notes weave harmoniously together.

 

After a few hours of drinking and merrymaking, he decided to take a room at this inn for the night. He deemed it was a good night, even if he did lose some of his money to the red-headed man in a game of poker.

Tyr headed upstairs, tired by all of the day’s events and retired to his surprisingly comfortable bed. As he lay there, he struggled to fall asleep; a million thoughts ran through his head. His mind was still running full speed when he finally managed to pass out.

The next morning, he awoke to the sound of purring at the foot of his bed. He looked over curiously, expecting to see the tavern’s mouser asleep by his feet. _What the heck?_ he thought as he discovered that it was not a cat, but Le Purria who curled up happily the end of his bed.

Tyr jerked up, more than a little alarmed with by her intrusion. “Why are you here?” he asked her. She casually blinked an eye open and stared at him for a moment before closing them again.

Tyr waited a while before impatiently kicking her off the edge. “That was uncalled for,” she said as she rolled onto her stomach on the floor. She put her hands underneath herself and stretched lazily while she let out a large yawn.

“I told that guard that I was going to make sure you wouldn’t get into any more trouble yesterday, but since yesterday is over, I guess I can leave you alone now. See you later, and don’t forget to be on the boat in three days from now. I would hate to miss you,” she said with a wink. She quickly pulled on her boots, grabbed her pack, and sauntered out the door.

Tyr stared at the door confusedly. _How the heck did she get in here, and I didn’t even notice? I must have been more tired than I initially thought._

He shrugged and proceeded to get ready for the day. He put on his shoes and brushed out his long blonde hair. _I have to remember to get this cut soon. Starting to become too much effort._

 

He emerged from the Succulent Eel a little while later and headed straight for captivity area. He realized what the guards had told him was not to be seen there, so he wasn’t going to be seen.

As he turned a corner, he stopped in his tracks, causing an elderly lady to faceplant into his back. She whispered something about ingrates under her breath and continued walking away.

Tyr paid no mind because he wasn’t sure whether to be happy or concerned. Everything was gone. The handlers, the cages, and the animals were just gone. They somehow managed to pack up and leave overnight, which was very impressive for the sheer amount of things they had.

He was troubled by what happened to the creatures, but there was little he could do now, or was there? He started looking around for signs on where they could have gone, keeping a wary eye open for any passing guards.

Tyr looked up at the sky and saw it approaching noon. _I must have slept in a lot longer than I originally thought. What was that noise?_ He turned toward what sounded like quiet whimpering.

Tyr cautiously wandered over toward whatever animal was making the distressed noises. He lifted up a tarp that was covering a poorly crafted box and saw two big blue eyes staring back at him.

It yelped in surprise and whimpered more as it scuttled into a corner; trying to make itself as small as possible. Tyr saw it was trembling and covered with mattes and dirt. He cooed to the pup in a soothing voice, slowly grabbing some jerky from his pocket and holding it out for the puppy.

It quieted and tilted its head up as it smelt the jerky and timidly moved its head toward the slender hand. It sniffed the hand cautiously and carefully took the dried up meat from his hand.

When it finished it’s treat, the pup moved up to Tyr’s hand and started licking it. Tyr smiled to himself and gently picked up the puppy, supernaturally gaining its trust as he does with most animals.

Upon lifting her out of the box, Tyr saw that it was a dire wolf pup with matted gray fur, bright blue eyes, and a hurt leg. He examined her leg and saw she had a deep cut that had happened recently.

Tyr pulled out some extra bandages and a healing poultice he had, and carefully wrapped up the pup’s leg. When Tyr finished bandaging her leg, he set her down on the cobblestone. “Let’s see you walk.”

She looked up at him, and Tyr motioned with his hand. She looked back at her newly bandaged leg and slowly let her weight down on it. She managed to take a few steps before she yelped and fell over. “You are going to have to let that leg of yours rest.”

Tyr fixed up the bandaging and gave her another treat. Then gently picked her up and brought her up to his eye level. “Now what should I call you?”

He smiled as she reached out and licked his face, but smile died as he noticed the sudden loud bang and the almost overwhelming smell of burning wood that accompanied it.

It took him a second to locate the source of the enormous fire that was peeking over the rooftops of some nearby buildings. He placed the pup in his pack and started to run toward the fire’s source.

The dire pup stayed in his pack and looked around interestedly at everything going on, completely trusting the kind man who helped him. As soon as it recognized the thick smoke in the air, it yelped and hid inside the pack that (much to its unbridled joy) was filled with jerky.

Tyr saw people panicking and running around like idiots before he even saw the source of the fire. When he did see it, he saw a storefront that was being engulfed by hot red flames. He glanced around and saw one of the many rivers that ran throughout the city was within about thirty yards of the building. _That’s convenient I guess._

There was already a small team of about three people running back and forth with buckets of water, trying to put out the fire.

 _That’s not nearly enough! We have to put this fire out before it gets the other stores on fire._ Tyr began to grab random people as they were running and threw them toward the people with the buckets. At first, it caused more confusion as the citizens ran into each other and multiple people got knocked to the ground.

After a few tries, people began to get the idea and joined in using whatever objects they could that held water. “Create a bucket line!” yelled Tyr to the scrambling helpers.

Tyr continued to “find” help and do what he could about creating some sort of semblance to put out the fire, but despite their efforts, it just seemed to be growing bigger. To his dismay, it was already spreading to the other buildings in the surrounding it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the late update. I will be better in the future. We should have another chapter up Monday.


	4. Kuramoto

Kuramoto grinned to himself as he strolled down the streets of the fairgrounds. He took in a deep breath of the fresh cool air, enjoying the sights and sounds of the Almas fair. He loved festivals. The busy people rushing around, the smells of foods you normally wouldn’t get year round, and the amount of nobility that emerge with heavy coin purses just screaming to be spent.

He turned his attention to his newest coin bag. A small purple draw bag with bright green threads and a strange little design on its front.  _ It seems I may have hit a jackpot, but who the hell would ruin this shade of purple with that shade of green?  _

Kuramoto wrinkled his nose at the distasteful union of colours before sifting through the bag’s contents. Among the fair amount of coin, he found two little vials containing strange liquids.  _ Must have been an alchemist of sorts. Or at least went and bought some potions today.  _ He flipped the bag over to examine the design again and vaguely recalled it might be from a low-end alchemist’s guild. Kuramoto shrugged and began to examine the vials.

He reached into the bag and held one of the small glass vials up to the sunlight. He shook it and watched the reddish liquid swirl around and settle back into place.  _ I bet it’s safe to guess that is a healing potion of some sort.  _ He slipped it into a pocket within his vest,  _ best to save that for an emergency. _

He pulled out the second vial, and as he held it up to the light, he saw that his first assumption of it being a liquid was false. The container seemed to be filled with flowing fire, revolving in a steady pattern within its thick glassed confines.

He examined it curiously and emptied the rest of the items from the new bag into his own. He made a quick mental note to get that checked out later by an alchemist and thought back on what he learned last night. 

From what he had gathered at the inn, he deduced that his best lead on finding this Artokus figure was to speak to a particular shopkeeper. Fortunately located in the exotic goods area in the marketplace, which wasn’t too far of a walk. The rumor was that this shopkeeper was initially from Thuvia and lived there for many years before traveling across the sea to live in Almas. 

He had managed to open a shop specializing in the selling of rare and exotic Thuvian goods. If anyone in Almas was going to have information on his target, it’s that guy.

Kuramoto was about a block or two from the store when he heard an impossibly loud bang that made him lose his balance for a second. He steadied himself using a nearby barrel as support. He looked up toward the sky and saw fire and smoke rising out over the rooftops. 

Screams erupted through the air, and the crowds ran in all directions. Kuramoto dodged through the building chaos toward the source of the eruption.

_ Please no,  _ he thought to himself as it dawned on him that the fire was coming from the same direction his intended destination was. He broke out into a run and narrowly missed running into Le Purria who was walking casually away from the scene.  _ Out of everyone here, why is she so calm? _ he thought but quickly forgot as he rounded the next corner.

There was a large merchant shop that was ablaze with giant plumes of dark black smoke billowing into the air, and it had already begun to spread to nearby buildings. Kuramoto saw glass lying all over the street in front of the blazing building.  _ There must have been an explosion from the inside. _

He jumped to the side and narrowly avoided being grabbed by Tyr. “Oi! What’s the idea?” he failed to yell over the noise. Kuramoto saw Tyr grab another passerby, shove a bucket into the young woman’s hands, and toss her toward a forming bucket chain.  _ I guess that works,  _ he thought as he looked over and saw a man lying face down on the cobblestones.

Kuramoto ran over to him to check for a pulse.  _ Hopefully, this guy is alive and can tell me what happened to cause this explosion. It’s way too coincidental that this place blows up right as I find a lead here. What is going on? _

He put two fingers under the dead man’s jaw and couldn’t find a pulse. Kuramoto shook his head and saw a hooded man sprinting full speed out of the burning shop, cackling madly. “Hey you! Stop!” yelled Kuramoto as he stood up and charged toward the madman.

Kuramoto easily caught up to him as he turned the corner of the burning building. He grabbed the man by the back of his hood and pulled back, causing him to lose his balance and footing. 

Using this to his advantage, Kuramoto thrust the man up against the wall and yelled over the roaring inferno, “Was this your doing?” 

The man stared into Kuramoto's eyes, a malicious glint within them. He slowly turned his head toward the window next to him. Kuramoto tried to keep eye contact but reluctantly glanced over through the window and saw a pair of legs sticking out from behind the main counter. 

The second they broke eye contact, the madman disappeared in a puff of blue smoke and caused Kuramoto to fall into the wall. He looked around in a slight daze, coughing through the smoke and noting the man had used magic to dematerialize. 

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath.

He looked up and saw the shop’s name on a sign above him. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said as a loud crack echoed out of the blazing walls. This confirmed in Kuramoto’s mind that this was no mere coincidence. Kuramoto looked back through the window to the unconscious man and moaned in frustration.  _ Well, I made it this far, might as well finish the job. _

He put his arms up to protect his face as he catapulted himself through the broken window and into the collapsing building. He kept to a low crouch to avoid the suffocating smoke as much as possible; already heavily sweating due to the intense heat surrounding him. 

He heard a sharp crack above his head and looked upward just in time to see a supporting beam begin to collapse upon him. Kuramoto twisted his body and managed to dance out of the way before the hunk of splintered wood even had a chance to hit him. 

In a few more steps he was behind the counter and pulled the unconscious man into a sitting position against the bar. Kuramoto coughed a few times as he examined the shop owner.

He was an elderly man with bronze skin and silver-flecked hair; he was definitely Thuvian. Kuramoto did a quick check over to make sure the man was okay and found some severe bruises and a few cuts but otherwise okay. He checked his pulse and found that the old man’s heart was still barely beating. 

He studied the immediate area and saw a small safe, some strange objects, and a silver locket. Kuramoto reached out toward the safe, but suddenly flinched and put an arm up as another wave of unbearable heat engulfed him.  _ I need to get out of here right now,  _ he thought as he got into another coughing fit. 

He looked back and forth between the door and the old man. If he ran for it, he could easily make it out alive, but he wasn’t sure he could get out in time with the old man too. He threw his hands up on either side of his head and let out a growl of  frustration, and cursed in his native tongue.

Kuramoto hoisted the old man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and made a run for the door. As got halfway across the gap, another boom rang out, and the support beam above the main entrance collapsed, blocking the only remaining exit. “Well isn’t that just typical!” Kuramoto shouted at the burning pile of rubble in anger. 

He quickly scanned the room for any escape openings big enough for the both of them. He could barely see anything past the heavy black smoke and dancing flames. He looked up in alarm as he heard another crack in the ceiling directly above him. 

His face went deadpan as he was decidedly done with this entire situation when a patch of bright blue caught his eye. He looked toward the light and realized he was able to see the sky,  _ and where you can see sky, you can escape _ . Kuramoto readjusted his grip on the old man, his bulky weight pulling Kuramoto down. 

Kuramoto ran toward the opening as fast as he could manage with the other man’s weight straining him. He was acutely aware of the burning in his lungs as he continued to breathe in the smoldering air. He reached the jagged opening, ducked through, and got a face full of water. 

Kuramoto dropped the man in surprise and sputtered as he coughed up the smoke and some water. Someone grabbed his arm and flung him away from the building. He went down on his knees as he continued to gasp for air. When he was able to breathe, for the most part, he saw that the shopkeeper had been tossed next to him.

He looked up slowly to the sound of someone slow clapping. He saw a man approaching him, “Look at you trying to play the hero! Is this what you get into when I’m not there to watch you?”

Kuramoto grinned despite himself, “I swear, this kind of thing only happens when we’re near each other.”

James extended his functional hand towards Kuramoto and helped pulled him to his feet. James’s face grew serious as he watched the fire start to engulf yet another shop. Kuramoto turned to survey the scene.  _ How on earth is it still standing? _

He saw a flash of golden hair glinting in the sunlight and recognized it as Tyr, who was still trying to coordinate a small band of civilians into a bucket chain. 

“So why were you really trying to save the old salt?” asked James pointing toward the man with his hook.

“I believe he has information concerning the job that was forced upon us,” replied Kuramoto. He knelt beside the shopkeeper and felt his pulse again. It was there, but predictably fainter than before. “We have to get him to a cleric, now,” Kuramoto informed James.

James cupped his hand over his mouth and shouted, “Tyr!” Tyr turned as he heard his name and quickly jogged over. Kuramoto looked up at the tall barbarian, “Think you can help us out here? He needs a cleric asap,” he said gesturing at the motionless man. Tyr nodded, easily picked up the shopkeeper in both arms, and started heading towards the nearest temple. 

“I don’t suppose you have any other leads?” inquired James.

“As of yet? No. He was my only lead, you?”

“‘Fraid I’ve had my hands busy with getting the necessary provisions so we can arrive in Thuvia in one piece. Consequently, do we have a port in mind because if not, I figure docking in Merab is our best option.”

“Sounds reasonable,” replied Kuramoto. “I’m going to see if I can learn anything else until that man recovers, care to join me?”

“Might as well, I assume my crew is competent enough to finish loading up,” said James with a half smile. “What about this fire though?”

“What about it?” asked Kuramoto. “Unless you can suddenly do magic, there’s nothing that you or I could do.”

“Fair point.”

They started walking toward the Succulent Eel, skillfully weaving in and out of the crowd of panicked onlookers while maintaining their conversation. “So how’s life been upon that boat of yours? I haven’t heard anything, so I assume you’re mostly staying out of trouble,” said Kuramoto.

James smirked, “Firstly, it’s a ship. And second, probably just as much as you are. Have you been back to visit Katheer?”

“You’re crazy if you think I would visit after that little incident of ours,” Kuramoto laughed out.

“Oh, I definitely think you’re crazy enough after what you put me through. If that’s what you call a ‘little’ incident mate, I’d hate to see what you’d call a big problem.”

“What  _ I _ made  _ you _ go through? I wasn’t the one that thought throwing a body out of a window was a good idea.”

“Well, I wasn’t the one who convinced the whole town that twenty-seven thousand of their kin were murdered in one night.”

“But you did help.” 

They looked at each other, and both burst out laughing. Halfway to the inn, they noticed the people around them start to point upward somewhere behind them. 

Curiously, Kuramoto turned around and saw a huge grey cloud above the inferno as it let out a thunderous roar. Rain began to gush down in turrets, drenching everything within its radius in seconds. Within a minute the fires were quenched, and the cloud disappeared with a flash of bright blue light, causing many members of the crowd to gasp. 

“Wanna head back and see if we can find anything useful?” Kuramoto asked James.

“We better get there before the guards do then. I do hate when they trample and break anything worthy of note,” James replied. 

They both turned to look at each other and smirked, then Kuramoto bolted ahead in an attempt to get there first. James followed right on his heels.

They both swiftly ran through the crowded streets, heading straight for the burned remains of what was once a rather successful merchant shop. Kuramoto was pleasantly surprised to find that the city guards had not already taken over the area, allowing James and him to search with relative ease.  _ Actually, it’s a little odd the guards aren’t here yet. Not that I’m upset, but I expected them to have come help with the fire beforehand. _

They both stealthily approached a small opening in the side wall. 

“I’ll go in and have a look around, you stand watch and get my attention for when a guard comes around,” whispered Kuramoto. James nodded in silent agreement and made some funny movements with his good hand. Kuramoto hesitated a second then decided to not question it,  _ What kind of hand signals are those? _

He did one last quick scan outside the building; not seeing anyone, he jumped through the small hole and made his way straight to the counter.  _ If there is anything that could have possibly survived the fire, it’ll be there, _ he thought as he looked around the beyond charred interior.

At first, Kuramoto didn’t see anything worthy of note, but upon closer inspection he noticed a corner of a tiny steel box poking out from under a piece of the counter that had collapsed. He carefully moved off some of the debris and wriggled the box out the rest of the way. 

_ Damn it,  _ he thought. It’s got a keyhole. He started looking around for a key, sifting through some of the ash. His hand hit something metallic, he excitedly grabbed it and lifted it out of the ash pile. His face dropped when he saw that it was the key, but the heat of the fire had completely warped it. He dropped it back down into the ashes and sighed. It wasn’t like he needed the key to get into the box anyways.  _ Just have to do this the hard way I suppose. _

Kuramoto was about to pull out his lockpicks when he suddenly felt the sharp pain of something hitting the back of his head. He brought his hand up to the back of his head and turned around quickly to see what had hit him.  _ What was that?  _

Kuramoto looked around and didn’t see anything.  _ Wait. Where’s James? _

He heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching.  _ Damn it, James! By signal, I did not mean throwing a rock. _

He stuffed the steel box into his bag and crept up to the nearest opening. He slowly peeked up and saw two guards coming up to the side of the building. Kuramoto quickly dropped back down to the floor. 

Luckily, they didn’t seem to of seen him. Kuramoto quickly scanned the area for another exit. 

On the other side of the shop, he saw a hole just big enough for him to squeeze through about five feet from the ground. It was risky, but he was determined to not go to jail today. 

He held his breath and listened again for the guard's’ footsteps. They were almost at what used to be the door,  _ now or never,  _ he thought. As stealthily as he could, Kuramoto sprinted to the opening, and leapt through without even touching the sides of the gap. He gracefully landed on the other side and calmly walked away. 

He looked for Captain Clarke as he walked back to the inn. Kuramoto was annoyed that the man thought throwing a rock at the back of his head was a proper signal.  _ Sure, it got the job done, but it was really unconventional.  _

As Kuramoto got within view of the Succulent Eel, he saw James leaning against the building. The captain hailed him as he approached.

“Took you long enough,” he said as he pushed off the wall and made his way over to Kuramoto.

“A rock. Seriously?” asked Kuramoto. “What were you thinking? What happened to using the signal, and why did you have to hit me in the head with freaking rock?!”

James smirked and waited a second before answering, letting Kuramoto calm down a bit. “Let me tell you a little secret. For a signal to work properly, both parties must be paying attention; otherwise, the signal is useless.”

Kuramoto brought his head down into his palm.  _ That’s a valid point. _

He dragged his hand down his face as he looked back up at James. “But why hit me in the back of the head with a rock? Certainly, you could have thought of another way to get my attention.”

James chuckled, “Well you didn’t notice when I threw the first one, and you were getting awfully close to getting caught. Now, what did you find there?” James nodded toward the silver box that was slightly poking out of Kuramoto’s backpack.

Kuramoto quickly recovered the box from his pack and patted James’s arm. “I’ll let you know when I find out,” he said as he walked by James and into the inn. 

James shrugged and followed Kuramoto through the inn and upstairs to his room. Kuramoto walked in and waited for James to close the door behind them. He pulled out the heavy compact box from his bag and put it on the table, both of them staring at the lock on the front of it. 

“You want to do the honors or shall I?” asked Kuramoto.

“I believe the honors are yours,” responded James as he pulled up a chair and sat at the small round table.

Kuramoto grinned, pulled out his favorite lockpick from within a hidden pocket inside his sleeve, and made quick work of the lock. Kuramoto always felt happier after hearing the satisfying opening click of a lock without using its proper key. He opened the lid with a bit of excitement at what contents his new present might have for him.

When he saw what lay within, he raised a skeptical eyebrow and looked at James. “I was honestly expecting more.”

James nodded in disappointed agreement, “It’s a bit less than what I thought a merchant of his caliber would have in a safe box, that’s for sure.”

Inside the box was a few gold pieces and a handful of low-grade gems. Kuramoto held one up to the light as he examined it, “Well maybe not…”

James looked at him curiously and inspected a blue gem, then let out a quiet laugh. The gems had been well cut and were definitely worth more than they had seemed. They split their loot evenly and looked at each other. “Think that guy might be awake by now?” asked Kuramoto. 

“Why do you care about him?” questioned James.

“He might have some answers to a few of our many questions, mainly on the whereabouts of this Artokus character.”

James stood up and did an exaggerated mocking bow with an arm sweeping toward the door. “Please, I am but your humble follower.” 

Kuramoto pushed James’s head further down as he walked by, not giving him the satisfaction of a response but grinning despite himself. 

After about an hour’s search, they managed to find the temple that Tyr had taken the wounded man. As they walked in they were greeted by a priest of Sarenrae, a kindly looking old man wearing the traditional light blue and gold trimmed robes of his station. “Good evening, gentlemen,” he said with a polite bow of his head, “How may I be of service to the two of you this fine night?”

“We are looking for our friends who would have brought in a wounded man from the fire earlier today. One is a tall half-elf, and the other is a catfolk, mayhaps you have seen them come in?” asked Kuramoto. 

“As it turns out, they have joined us earlier in search of our healers. Such an unusual pair, they would be rather hard to miss,” he said.

“We thank you for your help,” responded Kuramoto. He looked behind the priest at the massive auditorium and saw the many corridors branching off from the round room. He looked back at the priest and asked, “If it’s not too much trouble could you also help us locate where our friends are?”

“Ah, yes! I shall indeed but before I do, could I ask if either of you gentlemen have any spare coins you might donate to this fine temple. Despite the city's festivities, we’ve been finding it difficult to keep this good building up and running.” 

Kuramoto looked back at James who was patting his pockets for loose coins. James looked at the priest and shook his head sadly, then turned toward Kuramoto with a raised eyebrow. Kuramoto faced the priest with a sad look, “Unfortunately it seems that we are currently out of spare money and if we were to give anything we’d be in the streets for the remainder of our stay in this fine city.”

“That truly is unfortunate but I unders-” the priest was suddenly cut off as Kuramoto’s old coin purse finally gave out, and dozens of gold coins rang out noisily as they bounced on the stone floor. Kuramoto and the priest stared silently at the coins for a few moments before looking at each other. James looked between Kuramoto and priest, doing his best not to burst out laughing.

“Uhh,” started Kuramoto, trying to think fast. “Those are for my… sister,” he said. 

“Your sister?” asked the priest skeptically. 

“Yes, my sister who has fallen ill,” said Kuramoto looking at James for any help. It was evident with one glance that James would be of no help in this scenario, and so he took a deep breath and quickly composed himself. 

Kuramoto’s thoughts raced for an explanation until finally, it came to him. “My sister has fallen ill, and I’ve been working hard to raise money for her cure. Her illness is quite rare and is very expensive. I’m finally close enough to be able to pay for her healing.”

The priest’s face grew concerned. “My, my, sounds terrible. What type of illness has she come down with, perhaps you could bring her here? I could see if any of our healers could cure her, and hopefully even at a more affordable cost.”

Kuramoto leaned in, “I’d really not say, I wouldn’t want a nasty rumor of some sort of plague causing a panic within the city.”

The priest nodded, “I understand completely. Well, why don’t we clean up this mess and I’ll show you the way to your friends.” He bent down and started picking up the gold pieces.

Kuramoto kept a close eye on him while he bent down to pick up his scattered coins. When they finished gathering up all the gold, Kuramoto quickly counted them and, surprisingly enough, found that all his coins had been returned to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm technically posted this on Monday! :D


	5. Tyr

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting a little late, but still on track!

Tyr looked up from his quiet contemplation as Kuramoto and Captain Clarke walked into the small white room. He glanced back at Le Purria as she tuned her lyre in the opposite corner and back at the unconscious shopkeeper lying in the bed. 

Tyr looked over his bandages again. The clerics did a pretty good job using their magic and herbs to heal his wounds, but even so, they said it was going to be a while before the man was going to be able to wake up. The smoke inhalation, burns, and other injuries were pretty severe and had taken a toll on the older man. 

The cleric that tended to him told Tyr that if he hadn’t gotten the shopkeep there when he did, the man probably would’ve died. Tyr let out a small humorless laugh as he sat there, thinking about how he had ended up in such strange circumstances.

_ If someone had told me yesterday that I would be here today, in a Sarenite temple while waiting for a complete stranger to heal, I would have called them mental. Especially because I didn’t do anything to cause this man harm.  _

_ Then again, even if I had caused him injury, I still typically wouldn’t have taken him to a temple for healing.  _ Tyr looked up in sudden annoyance at as the two rogues whispered to each other.

He tried to listen in but couldn’t make out any words. Tyr huffed in slight irritation. He could deal with Le Purria’s small talk and lyre playing, but those two were just downright annoying.  _ Those two! Always scheming and figuring out ways to get out of their oaths and promises _ .  _ I wonder what they are up to now? Probably figuring out how to pay as little possible for this old man’s healing.  _

_ Come to think of it, neither of them helped me carry him here. They just hung back and cracked jokes! I did all the work, and it was only luck that Le Purria came across my path as I brought him here, but at least she came!  _ His brow furrowed as another thought crossed his mind,  _ Why are they suddenly here now? _

Tyr looked at them suspiciously,  _ What could they possibly be hoping to gain from this poor shopkeeper? _ He strained to make something out of their conversation once more but still couldn’t make out what was being said. He peeked over to Le Purria to see if she was listening in, but she was still obliviously strumming on her instrument. 

Tyr narrowed his eyes at her.  _ How  _ did  _ she know I was here and why would she follow me? Why would she even care? The only thing she ever cares about getting a story for her songs. _

He looked back at the injured man,  _ What do they know about you that none of them are telling me? Why didn’t any of them tell me? Am I not a part of this group?  _

_ If they don’t want to let me in on any of their little secrets, then fine! I’ll leave them to it in peace. _

Tyr quickly stood up and stormed out of the room angrily.  _ I’d rather be somewhere other than this temple anyways. It’s better to be in a place where I am wanted for more than just my strength _ . He reached over his shoulder and gently patted his pup’s head who yipped back in affection. 

“For now, you will be the only one I trust on this ludicrous quest,” said Tyr. 

The wolf pup let out a small borf and licked the back of Tyr’s head. He couldn’t help but let a slight grin start to form on his face.

Tyr hurriedly walked out of the prestigious temple and made his way through the dirty back alleys of Almas.  _ Why can’t people be more like animals,  _ he thought as he wandered aimlessly through the cold maze of stone grey buildings.  _ Life would be so much easier. There would be so much less scheming and backstabbing to deal with. The world would be more honest and just and-- _

Tyr’s thoughts stopped as a sudden sharp pain struck in the back of his head. He swiftly caught himself before he fell over onto the cobblestoned street. Scratching at the back of his head, he spun around in a daze, trying to find who or what had struck him. A lump on the ground caught his eye, and he knelt down to pick it up from the dirt. 

“A potato?” he asked aloud in confusion while examining it.

He jumped as he was startled by the loud crack of a bowl shattering against the concrete wall above him. Tyr reflexively crouched and put his arms up to shield his face from the shards of ceramic.  _ What the heck? Where did that even come from? _

He searched around the dimly lit alley but didn’t see anyone that could have thrown the bowl. He cautiously stood up straight and checked to make sure his wolf pup was alright. She had burrowed herself deeper into his pack, alarmed by the loud noises and sudden movements.  _ Thank goodness she wasn’t hit. _

He began to take a step forward when he heard a yelp of pain as another airborne object.  _ Whoever is throwing things is going to PAY! _ he thought enraged.

He turned frantically to see who could do such an evil thing as to hurt a young puppy. No one was there.

He trembled as his annoyance and rage rose to dangerous levels. 

“Coward! Show yourself!” he yelled.

That’s when he saw a small cup fly from out of a window above him and loudly clatter against the far wall. He immediately took off his backpack and gently put down the wolf pup. “Stay,” Tyr commanded. The pup yipped happily and burrowed into the backpack, covering her head with a blanket while leaving her wagging butt exposed. “That works too,” he mumbled. 

Tyr reached up and began to scale up the clay wall.

In his haste to climb, Tyr missed a handhold and slipped. He fell down and landed heavily on his rump. Tyr swore but did not let this deter him from getting to the window. As he began his climb again, he heard yelling growing louder from what sounded like two people arguing.

He jumped up to grab a wooden beam about three feet above him and hauled himself up. Tyr effortlessly got to the window this time and hoisted himself through the large arched opening. 

When his eyes adjusted to the dim, candlelit lighting, he saw a young couple arguing fiercely. A dark-skinned woman with waist length black hair was shouting at a pale, porky man. 

The woman continued, “--another man! How could you?! We’ve been together for only three years, and already you forget our anniversary? Worse even!

My youngest sister walks in on you and my own brother making love at their house. What do you have to say for yourself?!” she yelled. 

_ Such stupid reasons to risk injuring animals and innocent children that could be walking just outside. _ So intensely were they arguing, they didn’t even notice the tall barbarian standing just feet away from them. That is, they didn’t notice until they were suddenly assaulted with potatoes.

Tyr reached into a nearby bowl of potatoes and hit the man with two tubers before either of them could react. Both of the offenders turned to him in anger and confusion.

“What is the matter with you?!” the woman shrieked, picking up a nearby bowl of fruit. “Attacking people in their own home?”

She began to pelt him with pears and apples, most of which he dodged easily and the fruit flew out the open window. Tyr grabbed for another potato from the bowl and threw it at her, hitting the woman directly on the left temple. 

The fruit bowl fell to the ground with a loud crash as she dropped like a rock. The enraged man charged at Tyr. “How dare you strike my wife!?”

Tyr let loose another potato and struck the man in the throat. He fell to his knees as both his hands went up to grab his own neck, gasping for air.

Tyr leapt back onto the windowsill. He turned back to look at the couple, one unconscious yet breathing, the other conscious but not breathing well.

“You could have hurt some innocent animal or child; next time you have problems, close your windows.” He glared at the man, “You must choose who you truly love. Don’t needlessly hurt those around you.”

With that, Tyr dropped back down into the alley. He scooped up his little pup and checked to make sure she hadn’t gotten hit by any of the flying fruit. She happily licked his face, and he let loose a smile.

Tyr put her on his back and scooped up one of the fallen pears from the stoney floor. “Can’t let it go to waste,” he said and took a large bite out of the yellow fruit.


	6. Le Purria

Le Purria lifted her head up from her lyre at the sound of chuckling from the other end of the room. She saw James and Kuramoto talking in the corner, and James’ hand over his mouth in an attempt to keep himself from laughing.

_ When did they get there, _ she thought in mild alarm.  _ And where did Tyr go?  _

She was debating if she had enough energy to ask what was so funny when she saw a somewhat familiar figure walk by the open arched doorway. Le Purria strained her neck to get a better look but found they had already turned down the hallway and out of her sight.

“Who are you?” she asked herself quietly, quickly forgetting her discomfort while tilting her head in curiosity.

Le Purria picked up her prized instrument and went to follow the man. She walked down the sparsely decorated hallway in the direction she saw the figure walking. Her ears swiveled back as she heard the sound of footsteps running up behind her.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Captain Clarke asked as he drew even with her.

“I saw a strange man that seemed familiar somehow,” Le Purria said, continuing to walk forward. “I think I knew him, but I’m not quite sure. I have to see him again to find out if I’ve met him before.”

She got to the back door of the temple, but the man was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’d he go? I know he went this way,” Le Purria complained as she looked both ways down the alley. “I saw him, I really really did.” She squatted down just outside the door. Le Purria began to pout, letting her ears droop, _ now I’ll never know if I’ve seen him before.  _

“Well, he probably just went down one of these back channels. Where have you seen him before?” asked James as he knelt down beside her.

“That’s the problem! I have no idea, but I want to know. This is going to drive me bonkers.”

As she sat there, she noticed a single set of footprints in the ground leading away from the door and perked up in growing excitement. It was a long shot, but maybe she would get lucky. Squealing with joy, Le Purria jumped up and grabbed a very surprised James’ arm, pointing out the footprints in the dirt.

“See! He was real, and I saw him. I still don’t know who he was, but I did see him!”

“Calm down lass. I never said I didn’t believe you. Why do you think I followed you in the first place?” replied James.       

“Besides the chances of these tracks being your mystery man’s is fairly slim. Who knows who else could have been walking through this alley or if he even came out this way of the temple? He could have turned down one of the side hallways inside.”

Le Purria narrowed her eyes at James and twitched her tail agitatedly.  _ I hate when people take the fun out of mysteries _ , she huffed.

She looked back to the prints and saw them already slightly disappearing as silt blew over them from the wind. Despite what the Captain had said, she decided to follow them before the tracks vanished entirely, and noticed that whoever left them had a funny walk. She saw that the right print was pointed severely inward and dragged a bit on the ground.

“That’s weird,” she said, pointing at the right ones. “Why would anyone walk like that? It looks awfully uncomfortable, and I’d think you’d risk falling over a lot. Then again I guess the poor guy could have a leg or foot problem, but he just came out of a healing temple. So choices are, he came to the temple to heal his foot and didn’t have enough money. Second, the priests couldn’t heal it, in which case that’s bad news for our guy. Third, the guy could be acting like he has a limp. Or fourth, he twisted his ankle on the way out and became too embarrassed to get it healed again. I can relate to that last one.”

To demonstrate to James, she turned her right foot inward to match the angle of the footprints and started to walk forward. After the first few steps, she had to stretch out her arms and tail to keep balanced.  _ That rules out the theory on choosing to walk this way,  _ she thought,  _ or he could just be weird _ .

“See?” she said as she turned back to Captain Clarke. “And those don’t look like catfolk prints, so I doubt he has a tail to keep balanced like I do. Must be really annoying. I have no idea how you humans survive without tails, or any of the other races come to think of it. He should get that fixed, his foot I mean, not the tail thing. That would be really funny to see a human with a tail but back to my main point.

Coming out of a temple of Sarenrae, he probably was trying to get his foot fixed.”

Le Purria turned around to look at James to get his opinion and saw him standing with his hand over his face.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, confused. “I know it’s weird to walk like that, but I don’t think you should be embarrassed about it. It’s not like you have a leg disorder or choose to walk that way like some crazy person.”

James lowered his hand and stared at her; annoyance etched on his face.

“I’m not embarrassed,” he said with a sigh. “I’m annoyed. Those prints you found are most likely to belong to a specific sailor of mine; who was supposed to stay on the ship and not wander haphazardly around the city.”

He swiftly turned and strode back into the temple. Le Purria stood there awkwardly for a moment, flicking her tail, and followed him back inside. 

_ Did I do something wrong?  _ she asked herself. She quickly thought back to the past five minutes.  _ I don’t think I said anything wrong. Maybe he didn’t like it when I made fun of that guy’s walk. But then again he was crazy for walking that way, so technically am I really making fun of him if he chooses to walk that way?  _

She pondered the thought for another second and shook her head.  _ Either way, I need to apologize to him. Mama always said that even if I was right and the other person was dead crazy, I should still apologize because you never know what an insane person was capable of and you don’t want to be on their bad side.  _ She quickly caught up to Captain Clarke while he was on his way back to the room.

“I’m awful sorry I was rude about your crewman,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to be mean, but it was just really, really weird to see footprints like that. Why does he choose to walk with his foot pointed inward all the time? Doesn’t it hurt? Don’t his legs get tired? Why doesn’t he get it fixed? Can he get it healed? Is that why he was here in the first place? What’s your favor- ooph!”

James stopped abruptly, causing Le Purria to face plant squarely into his back. He turned around and stared at her for a moment, making her slightly uncomfortable. Her ears betrayed her feelings of unease by flicking back and slightly flattening onto her head.

“If you have any more questions, lass,” he spat the last word. “Then I suggest you interrogate him yourself. I strongly suspect he doesn’t like it when others give away his personal information without his knowledge, especially his own Captain,” James growled.

They both went back into the room and found that the wounded man was still unconscious. Kuramoto looked at both of them curiously, but neither said anything. Le Purria sat back in her corner and began strumming on her lyre while she waited.  _ The Captain is such a meanie head. _

**Author's Note:**

> All of our players are super excited for this story! This game has been going on for two years and counting now, and we've finally decided to compile our notes and make something out of it. Smaller encounters are based off of other fandoms we were into, so you may recognize many familiar characters and situations.  
> Our goal is to update once a week.  
> We hope y'all enjoy it!


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